Tomb Raider

Mr Nathan Drake you just got blown out of the water by this little girl ;-)

Played the new TOMB RAIDER for 4 hours now :-) .I am blown away most beautiful graphics ive ever seen! .Luckily even thou i have Nvidia card have had zero crashes with settings on high. Mr Nathan Drake you just got blown out of the water by this little girl ;-) .The gameplay is great theres alot of exploring to do and controls works like a charm with mouse and keyboard. Unless my most anticipated upcoming game The Last Of Us is crazy good? .then TOMB RAIDER is GAME OF THE YEAR for me

BUT the story in (at least the second) Uncharted game is vastly superior to that of Tomb Raider, not to mention the dialogue. The voice actors in Tomb Raider are flat, one-sided and generally boring to listen to, whereas in Uncharted, you really feel that it's been done with a sense of personality. But I agree that the combat system in Tomb Raider is more thrilling, but for me, these games are great for their exploring, environments and character developments/narrative.

BUT the story in (at least the second) Uncharted game is vastly superior to that of Tomb Raider, not to mention the dialogue. The voice actors in Tomb Raider are flat, one-sided and generally boring to listen to, whereas in Uncharted, you really feel that it's been done with a sense of personality. But I agree that the combat system in Tomb Raider is more thrilling, but for me, these games are great for their exploring, environments and character developments/narrative.

:-) I kinda agree what Uncharted has and Tomb Raider kinda lacks is humor.

BUT the story in (at least the second) Uncharted game is vastly superior to that of Tomb Raider, not to mention the dialogue. The voice actors in Tomb Raider are flat, one-sided and generally boring to listen to, whereas in Uncharted, you really feel that it's been done with a sense of personality. But I agree that the combat system in Tomb Raider is more thrilling, but for me, these games are great for their exploring, environments and character developments/narrative.

I am sorry but you couldn't have been more wrong. Uncharted storylines are typical for the genre and dialogues are little more than fully consist of snotty remarks and witty comebacks.

What makes story of Tomb Raider superior is character development which doesn't exist in Uncharted.

BUT the story in (at least the second) Uncharted game is vastly superior to that of Tomb Raider, not to mention the dialogue. The voice actors in Tomb Raider are flat, one-sided and generally boring to listen to, whereas in Uncharted, you really feel that it's been done with a sense of personality. But I agree that the combat system in Tomb Raider is more thrilling, but for me, these games are great for their exploring, environments and character developments/narrative.

Actually, Uncharted 2 is the only Uncharted game I've played. I borrowed my little sister's friend's PS3 and bought a used copy of Uncharted 2 along with Journey (the only two PS3 games I wanted to play) and that fact factored into my assessment of the games.

Both Uncharted 2's and Tomb Raider's writing followed archetypical conventions and barely deviated. Both UC2's and TR's writing was below average (as long as you are talking about writing in general and not specifically video game writing). Very little genuine intelligence went into the writing of Drake and Sully's "witty" banter; at least where both medium examples and broader examples are concerned.

If you want genuinely witty dialog and not flat, predictable humor you should play Mass Effect 2, Portal 2, or even Sleeping Dogs.

Both games have pretty poor writing over all. The only reason I can surmise that people like you believe Uncharted's was better is because Tomb Raider doesn't have jokes, predictable or otherwise. They are both about the same level of originality and quality.

However, the reason I believe TR's is slightly better is because the antagonists were slightly better characterized and the supporting characters had slightly more diversity. More archetypes went into the creation of the TR cast than did the UC2s.

However, the storytelling of TR vastly outstrips that of UC2. The story of Tomb Raider isn't how Lara gets off the island and it isn't about the Sun Queen. The story of Tomb Raider is the story of how a scared archeologist straight out of college becomes the fabled first true heroine of video games.

With that in mind, the true judge of the game's storytelling ability is how nuanced and believably that central story is told. If you filter out the noise from the signal and ignore the mistakes made, the core story being told was done extremely well and with far greater subtlety than I was expecting.

This was done by integrating little touches into combat, like the shift from lines like "you don't have to do this!" to "You're gonna die you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s!" slowly over the course of the game, to the shift in Lara's tone in cutscenes from uncertain to uncompromising.

That to me is something Uncharted 2 never matched. Not once in the entire game. In fact Drake has been criticised with being entirely too psychopathic in his combat dialogue, seeming to relish a bit too much in mowing down dozens and hundreds of human beings.

BUT the story in (at least the second) Uncharted game is vastly superior to that of Tomb Raider, not to mention the dialogue. The voice actors in Tomb Raider are flat, one-sided and generally boring to listen to, whereas in Uncharted, you really feel that it's been done with a sense of personality. But I agree that the combat system in Tomb Raider is more thrilling, but for me, these games are great for their exploring, environments and character developments/narrative.

I am sorry but you couldn't have been more wrong. Uncharted storylines are typical for the genre and dialogues are little more than fully consist of snotty remarks and witty comebacks.

What makes story of Tomb Raider superior is character development which doesn't exist in Uncharted.

What character development are you referring to in Tomb Raider? The fact that one minute she is weeping over the body of a deer, the next she is mowing down enemies by the pound? The storyline takes, what, two days to unfold? Miss Lara Croft begins her journey as a British little girl who has never shot any living creature in her life, only to grow into a serial killer in a matter of minutes. I don't know if the fault lies with the narrative or the progression of the game, but that, to me, isn't proper character development.

And her companions, lest we forget, are dull and bring little to no excitement to the game.

I do agree that Uncharteds Nathan Drake is a bit too cocky and often delivers one-liners that nevertheless reveals some story behind the games (the bit about Sully and the nuns jumps to mind). But you cannot argue that Lara Croft in this new installment has a better character development than either Nathan Drake, Sully OR Elena or Chloe. Even their voice acting is miles ahead in terms of quality.

I am sorry but you couldn't have been more wrong. Uncharted storylines are typical for the genre and dialogues are little more than fully consist of snotty remarks and witty comebacks.

What makes story of Tomb Raider superior is character development which doesn't exist in Uncharted.

What character development are you referring to in Tomb Raider? The fact that one minute she is weeping over the body of a deer, the next she is mowing down enemies by the pound? The storyline takes, what, two days to unfold? Miss Lara Croft begins her journey as a British little girl who has never shot any living creature in her life, only to grow into a serial killer in a matter of minutes. I don't know if the fault lies with the narrative or the progression of the game, but that, to me, isn't proper character development.

And her companions, lest we forget, are dull and bring little to no excitement to the game.

You're confusing function with form. The character development is done through the dialogue, not the combat. From a game design perspective the two really should match up if you want to accomplish what you set out to, but it can still work to a degree without true synchronization.

In this case, through both cutscenes and in game dialogue, Lara's character develops the same amount across the board. Yes, she ends up killing a few too many goons right off the bat but if you listen to what she says while doing it, you'll see the subtlety inherent in her development.

It's not a perfect game and it's not a perfect story. If gameplay was transcribed into text and this game was packaged as a novel, you'd be completely right.

However, since this sort of thing is really pretty new to this industry and medium, the fact that she kills a few too many goons can and should be forgiven. It shouldn't be forgotten, because otherwise we end up creating the same mistakes time after time, but it should be forgiven.

The accomplishment of Tomb Raider's story can't be hand waved away. It tries and mostly succeeds to explain how characters like Gordon Freeman function and develop. It tries and mostly succeeds in explaining how a normal person can become something far more. It displays the crucible necessary to irrevocably alter an individual.

What character development are you referring to in Tomb Raider? The fact that one minute she is weeping over the body of a deer, the next she is mowing down enemies by the pound? The storyline takes, what, two days to unfold? Miss Lara Croft begins her journey as a British little girl who has never shot any living creature in her life, only to grow into a serial killer in a matter of minutes. I don't know if the fault lies with the narrative or the progression of the game, but that, to me, isn't proper character development.

And her companions, lest we forget, are dull and bring little to no excitement to the game.

Yes. exactly that one. And this happens not within minutes. Before killing a deer and killing baddies by the dozen happens a lot of stuff, like witnessing Endurance crew been executed before her very eyes, numerous wolf attacks, and her very first kill that was forced upon her.

Also she before that cooked the deer, took a rest, and passed out for god knows how long.

I am sorry but you couldn't have been more wrong. Uncharted storylines are typical for the genre and dialogues are little more than fully consist of snotty remarks and witty comebacks.

What makes story of Tomb Raider superior is character development which doesn't exist in Uncharted.

What character development are you referring to in Tomb Raider? The fact that one minute she is weeping over the body of a deer, the next she is mowing down enemies by the pound? The storyline takes, what, two days to unfold? Miss Lara Croft begins her journey as a British little girl who has never shot any living creature in her life, only to grow into a serial killer in a matter of minutes. I don't know if the fault lies with the narrative or the progression of the game, but that, to me, isn't proper character development.

And her companions, lest we forget, are dull and bring little to no excitement to the game.

I do agree that Uncharteds Nathan Drake is a bit too cocky and often delivers one-liners that nevertheless reveals some story behind the games (the bit about Sully and the nuns jumps to mind). But you cannot argue that Lara Croft in this new installment has a better character development than either Nathan Drake, Sully OR Elena or Chloe. Even their voice acting is miles ahead in terms of quality.

Nope, definitely disagree. This new Lara Croft is far and away one of the best video game protragonists in a long time. Agree that her companions are crap, but she herself is fine.

It's not a matter of minutes and not only that but the human body is programmed with this little thing called fight or flight...and since flight was made impossible she has to fight.

It HAS to happen quickly, or she wouldn't be this legendary survivor. "You're a Croft", "I'm not that kind of Croft" "Sure you are, you just don't know it yet". Sure, not everyone could do what she did. That's part of the point, this is Lara Croft. We know she is capable of all of this, and this is how it comes about. If she had a mental breakdown over the first guy she killed, she'd be a nobody or just be captured like her friends or die. She's a survivor and a survivor will do anything to continue surviving. This includes unspeakable killing. As for her skill, I believe it's mentioned that Roth trained her, thinking it'd be useful in the future.

Lara had been doing things with Roth and her Father since she was 5, as revealed in the dialogue. She had 'latent' training, the skills were there, but they were buried by inactivity. She was thrust into a situation where it was fight or die, so her training and the strength of her character clawed it's way to the surface over the course of the narrative. The pacing may have been off a little, but overall for me it was an excellent game. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lara had been doing things with Roth and her Father since she was 5, as revealed in the dialogue. She had 'latent' training, the skills were there, but they were buried by inactivity. She was thrust into a situation where it was fight or die, so her training and the strength of her character clawed it's way to the surface over the course of the narrative. The pacing may have been off a little, but overall for me it was an excellent game. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the game aswell, no doubt about it. It has all sorts of interesting points, but what bothers me the most is the characters in the game. In terms of environment, pacing, difficulty (puzzles and combat) and the overall feel of the game is pretty decent, even tops most of the recent games I've been running through. Game of the Year, perhaps not, but a remarkable piece nonetheless.

I loved this game and I love the Uncharted games but I was way more ingaged in the story and characters in Uncharted. If one of the main characters died in Uncharted I would probably actually get sad and in Tomb Raider I just didn't really care about the characters and what happened to them except Lara.

I was really interested in Tomb Raider's story but the sometimes flat voice acting and mostly bland characters didn't draw me in as much as Uncharted, which I felt had substance to the characters and exceptional voice acting.

I loved this game and I love the Uncharted games but I was way more ingaged in the story and characters in Uncharted. If one of the main characters died in Uncharted I would probably actually get sad and in Tomb Raider I just didn't really care about the characters and what happened to them except Lara.

I was really interested in Tomb Raider's story but the sometimes flat voice acting and mostly bland characters didn't draw me in as much as Uncharted, which I felt had substance to the characters and exceptional voice acting.

Agreed, outside of Laura and to a lesser extent Roth I didn't care for any of the characters. Having an investmen in one character in particular (won't say who) would have made the ending notably better. There is a moment when Lara was going to rescue a character and they give that characters name and I had no idea who they where talkling abou. Uncharted 2 and 3 are the better single player experiences though. I also fell the writting in the Uncharted games is extremely good, it is very familiar in some ways but that to me was part of the charm and what impressed me most wher conversations between Sully and Drake, part of this is just how well the voice actors potray there roles but I feel that it is more then that. I don't want to give specifics here so sorry if I sound vague, I just don't wont to give out any spoilers.

This game is a excellent example of a reboot to a series we all know and love but I do agree this game isn't the Game of the Year for obvious reasons. It does have beautiful graphics but lacks immersion but this game does prove that it can keep up with other titles this year.